Jay Arzadon

Jay’s Bio –Jay Arzadon has been a personal trainer, working within the fitness industry for more than 10 years. His focus as a trainer is on the commitment, focus and hard work it takes in order to achieve success. He is the owner of Arzadon Fitness, a fitness and wellness company that offers Personal Training, Acountability Training and Epic Strongman Classes

When did your start working out?

I started working out at the age of 12 in my room using my encyclopaedias as dumbbells. My mother would walk in my bedroom and see the encyclopaedias on the floor, she thought I was reading them and had no idea I was using them as dumbbells.

What adversity have you had to overcome as an athlete?

I played hockey, football and basketball growing up. I had to overcome injuries such as separating my shoulder twice, and tearing my neck muscles 3 times. Going through the rehab process with my chiropractor for a few weeks took a lot of patience but gave me great insight on the rehab field.

How has working out impacted your life

Working out has taught me that you need to feel a bit uncomfortable in order to grow or change in life. With weightlifting, I am always trying to push myself, even when it’s not comfortable for me. Being able to squat 300lbs was not an easy task and took a lot of work, once I accomplished that task, I move on to the next challenge like 325lbs.

When I start to feel comfortable with my workouts, I know right away there is something that needs to change. I look at life the same way, if I start to feel too comfortable or I accomplish a goal, I don’t stop and settle, I ask myself what’s next.

How often do you train and for how long?

I work out 4 times a week for at least an hour.

I am always on the go as an owner of a fitness & wellness business, Arzadon Fitness. Like most of my clients, they too are always on the go, I refer to it as the “Fast Paced Lifestyle”. With such a lifestyle, you need to find a balance and my balance is working out. I always tell my clients, ‘Unless you are training as an athlete. If you are training longer than an hour, you’re not working hard enough’, because you can get an effective strength training workout in within only 45 minutes whether if your goal is hypertrophy or weight loss.

What are some keys to working out intensely and avoiding injury?

The key is to build a strong foundation first! Life moves at a fast pace, and your body shouldn’t slow you down. You should focus on your body’s mobility and free it of its limitations, so you can live a healthier and unrestricted life.

How do you do that?

Most of my clients are professionals that are either always behind a desk for long hours of the day or constantly travel in a plane for work, they tend to come to me with poor posture caused by inactive and weak muscles. Here are some key tips on working out intensely while avoiding injury:

Hire a fitness coach or personal trainer,they help assess your posture, weak points and muscular imbalances and then teach you how to correct them through exercise. Even if you only hire a fitness coach for a couple of sessions, it will go a long way to avoid injuries and receive great results in the future.

Stick with using dumbbells and unilateral (one arm or leg at a time) exercises. Exercises such as split squats, lunges, 1 arm rows or dumbbell bicep curls are exercises we always focus on when creating workout programs for our clients because it teaches our clients how to recruit their muscles properly and quickly fixes their muscular imbalances. Once you master this, you can start adding more bilateral movements like barbell squats, dead lifts and bench press.

Follow a program. You need to understand that when you exercise, you are applying stress to your body, the best way to get results is to work off of a structured program.
Hire a fitness coach, buy a fitness book, NOT a magazine, which will only give you a one-day workout or take the time to research online. Having a structured program and understanding how to prioritize intensity and volume is key to getting great results.

Quality over Quantity. Focus on the quality of the exercise movement rather than how much weight you are lifting. Am I achieving full range or motion? Am I feeling the exercise where I am supposed to? These are questions you should ask yourself while exercising.

Warm Up! My clients hate warming up at first but they see the benefit over time. A proper warm up should not take more than 8-10 minutes of your time. You should focus dynamic stretches to create more mobility and wake up your muscles and joints. Think about it, when you go to the gym you are either coming straight from your bed or sitting behind a desk all day. You need a proper warm up before you start lifting or working out.

What is your number #1 fitness tip?

Get Serious!

In reality, fitness doesn’t have a finish line. You are continuously going to try to keep improving. Fitness is more of a journey than a destination. It’s a lifestyle rather than a program that you do for a short amount of time and then keep the results forever.

You should take the time to really asses your lifestyle and your values. If fitness and health are not valued in the top 3, then get it there. Make the investment and it will pay off because nothing is better than the gift of health.

Lorne’s Take: Jay hits the nail on head when he stresses the importance of a following a program. This will keep you on track and allow you to monitor your progress

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Posted by Lorne Marr.

Lorne Marr is a Toronto-based fitness enthusiast and lifelong advocate of healthy living.
He is on a journey to discover the best methods of training and nutrition for athletes and weekend warriors over 45.
Connect with Lorne on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

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